LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An Arkansas sheriff who was convicted in 1979 for possessing stolen hens is ineligible to serve in office, the state’s highest court ruled Thursday.

The state Supreme Court said that Searcy County Sheriff Kenny Cassell’s misdemeanor conviction for knowingly possessing stolen Cornish hens prohibits him from holding office under the state constitution. Justices reversed a lower court’s dismissal last year of the state’s attempt to remove Cassell from office.

Cassell was elected sheriff in 2010. As a deputy sheriff in 1979, he pleaded guilty to embezzlement or theft of interstate or foreign shipments by carrier for possessing the hens that belonged to Tyson Foods Inc. The hens were worth less than $100. Cassell served 30 days in jail and paid a $300 fine.

Justices cited a provision in the Arkansas Constitution that prohibits anyone serving in public office who has been convicted of “embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery or other infamous crime.”

“The circuit court found that this was a theft offense and that such an offense involved dishonesty,” Justice Cliff Hoofman wrote in the ruling, finding that it was an “infamous crime.”

Cassell, who also serves as county collector, said he not yet seen the ruling and declined to comment. Cassell’s attorney was traveling Thursday and said he hadn’t discussed the ruling with his client yet.

“Kenny Cassell is a good man who is a genuine public servant. I know he and his wife will continue to serve the community the live in as they have for the past 30 years and I am disappointed for the voters and the people of Searcy County,” attorney Joe Don Winningham said.

The justices sent the case back to the lower court, which would have to issue an order to remove Cassell from office. Prosecutor Cody Hiland, who had sought Cassell’s removal, said he hoped the sheriff would step down from office in light of the state Supreme Court decision.

“Kenny Casell is a good man and I think he does a good job as sheriff, but this is about whether he’s qualified to serve under the constitution,” Hiland said. “This is not about the individual. This is about maintaining integrity in the system and maintaining integrity of the law.”

Cassell purchased a newspaper ad in 2009 acknowledging the conviction.

He had argued that the state needed to prove his conviction harmed the integrity of the sheriff’s office or that it directly impacted his ability to serve as an elected official. Searcy County Circuit Judge David Clinger agreed in his ruling last year dismissing the state’s attempt to remove the sheriff, saying that voters elected Cassell with full knowledge of his prior conviction.

Justices said the state didn’t need to prove that the conviction would impact Cassell’s ability to serve.

“Once it has been determined that a party has committed an ‘infamous crime,’ that party is ineligible to hold public office,” Hoofman wrote in the ruling. “An ‘infamous crime’ by its nature impugns the integrity of the office and directly impacts the person’s ability to serve as an elected official.”